Now this is interactive pioneering at its best! GestureTek one of the leaders in computer vision technology and gesture controlled systems was kind enough to give us a demonstration of what had made them an industry leader.
Although I had seen this technology before I hadn’t really thought about how it worked or how innovative it was. Beforehand I was a simple spectator gawking at the “interface” and shooting out comments like “Wow, that’s neat!” but now with the knowledge I gained at IMM (insert product placement here; P) I’ve gained a new appreciation in technological advancements geared towards interactivity. In the year 1984 to this very day GestureTek had been and is still developing an alternative to the monitor and mouse and interactivity.
At the very core of their technology was a camera. And with so many products (GestPoint, Holopoint, Illuminate, etc) reliant on one, two, three or more cameras it was clear the major investments had gone into the R&D of such technology. IR cameras had also shown its presence, the majority of them hidden and placed high nearing the ceiling where the projectors were, which I might add range from your regular projector you pay $300+ at BestBuy to industrial strength costing upwards in the thousands. A Java based system along side a “Dazzler” engine; must have been developed in-house, was used to track the user’s movements of one of their technologies (Holopoint) which used two intersecting cameras to create a matrix. To my understanding the matrix used an X-axis, Y-axis and a Z-axis for depth. As I jabbed/poked my finger in the air it would translate into an area being clicked. The whole interactive event would best be described as a “seeing is believing” experience. It was so much fun I forgot to take notes but here I am able to write about it.
The client list of GestureTek ranged from big ticket companies like Sony and Microsoft who had collaborated with GestureTek to bring the EyeToy and Xbox Live Vision into the home. Japanese telecom (unnamed), weather stations for presenting your local weather reports, TV stations (game shows), museum interactive displays, and anything else needing an interactive feel beyond the ordinary had GestureTek written all over it. Could this lead to a monopoly? I think not as they’re others just like GestureTek. Just not within close proximity for an up-close tour, once again how lucky am I.
So what’s next for GestureTek? It looks like the mobile market or better yet mobile gaming is the next big thing. It would be a waste of time to describe this in words so I implore you to click on this final link, sit back and enjoy the awe that is gesture based technology.
On October 4, 2007 we were invited to see pioneering take place and interact with some environment with the help of cameras, tablets, and various hardware. Mr. Song Ho Ahn a Visualization Developer at Visual Design Institute showed us many resources to create interactive environments. An acronym API was passed around which I interpreted as some engine used to develop and render graphics or whole environments.
An open source game engine called OGRE had been the engine of choice which had me to come up with a few questions:
- Do developers always favor the free (namely open source)?
- What trade offs are there from open source rather than paying a license for something more fancy.
- Besides the development of games what major industry needs this type of technology? Medical practices perhaps?
- What other engines exist and how do they differ?
Of course for me to completely get an answer for all of the preceding questions I would need to do my research and gather some opinions from for industry experts. To my surprise there are many free game engines at a developer’s disposal.
As we moved on we got to interact with some facial recognition applications which Song had built from scratch mentioning some others along the way. FACE (Facial Animation Communication Engine) was really remarkable. You could sit anyone in from of the camera and the program would process their facial features and then an animated face would mimic what was captured in real time. Real neat stuff I might add. Of course lighting would be an issue as some sat in place with a hat.
The final portion of the tour literally immersed us into an interactive experience via projectors, panoramic screens, sound systems, and tablets for interactivity. Immersion Studios had made its audience participate via tablets in a life or death situation held in outer space rendered using 3ds Max aka 3D Studio Max.
In order to continue with the story the audience would have to make choices (i.e. scanning the heart, lungs or brain). The idea of choices and the consequences attached to them would be effectively illustrated using this platform namely warfare training, surgical procedures, etc.
